What Did Adam Inherit?

This article examines what Adam and Chava actually passed on to humanity after their sin in Gan Eden. Rather than teaching that their descendants inherited Adam’s personal guilt or an inescapable sinful nature, the Tanakh presents the primary inheritance as mortality. By examining Genesis, Deuteronomy, Yechezqel, and the Jewish concepts of the Yetzer HaTov and Yetzer HaRa, this study contrasts biblical moral responsibility with later Christian doctrines of Original Sin. It also explores how inherited-guilt theology helped shape related beliefs such as infant baptism, total depravity, federal headship, and the Immaculate Conception. The central question remains: are we judged for Adam’s sin, or for our own choices before The Almighty?

ORIGINAL SINGENESISJEWISH THOUGHTCHRISTIANITY